Leeds children targeted by pervert on Live.ly app

Parents advised to delete the app from their children's phones after extremely worrying incident.

There have been concerning letters in school bags across Leeds today, as primary schools have been advised by the Leeds Safeguarding Board to warn parents of the dangers of a popular app called Live.ly.

A serious e-safety incident was reported by pupils of a Leeds Primary school on Monday evening. Children in year 6 (who were not in school at the time) were involved a group chat amongst themselves, when the chat was joined by a man who was not known to them. He proceeded to expose himself and perform a sex act on screen.

So, what is Live.ly?

Advice for parents from website Commonsensemedia.org says: "Parents need to know that live.ly is live video-streaming in a social-networking app that allows users to broadcast live video to online friends and is made by the same developers as musical.ly - your music video community.

"Teens can log in with their musical.ly, Facebook, or Twitter account. The terms of use specify that users be at least 13 years old but that by using the service, they are affirming that they're 18, which makes little sense.

"As with any live-streaming service, there are concerns about what kids might see, what sort of information kids may give out, and the potential for bullying or inappropriate comments from viewers.

Whilst the app is only supposed to access contacts on the users phone, it appears that quite quickly, friends of friends of friends are able to join a group chat whom your child does not know at all. The advice to parents is to ensure their children do not have access to this app due to the dangers of grooming and a further incident of this nature occurring.

If your child experiences anything like this online, it must be reported to the police using 111.